Mayor to meet with residents over ongoing water crisis

POLOKWANE – The Mayor of Polokwane John Mpe will meet with residents tonight over the ongoing water crisis.

The public meeting is scheduled to take place at Jack Botes Hall at 18:00 and residents are encouraged to attend.

The Polokwane Municipality said the community engagement session is set to discuss interventions that could alleviate the situation.

Inconsistent water supply has left the city’s taps dry for nearly a month now leaving residents frustrated.

Last week, Mpe said the municipality is doing everything they can to bring back supply, but added that load-shedding has thrown a spanner in the works as pumping is disrupted.

“We have been in discussions with Eskom to ensure security of supply to Lepelle Northern Water (LNW) to ensure that operations continue,” he said.

Read more: We’re doing everything to bring back water supply – mayor

Among other issues, residents are irate over the lack of water tankers in areas such as Bendor, Eduan Park, Flora and Fauna Park and other suburbs in the city.

This has resulted in the community banding together with the help of the DA in Polokwane through their ‘Project Elephant’.

The DA Polokwane Constituency said the project was started over to the high demand for water tankers with several businesses sponsoring tanks that residents can collect water from.

DA Councillor Jacques Joubert said the municipal manager has sent formal letters to Eskom and Lepelle Northern Water (LNW) over the ongoing crisis.

“There will be discussions between LNW, Eskom, the Tzaneen Municipality and Polokwane about the possibility of exempting the Ebenezer line from load-shedding,” a statement read.